Stubbs's celebrated Spanish Pointer set to fetch £2m

George Stubbs's celebrated painting of a Spanish pointer dog is to be auctioned at Sotheby's for the first time since 1972.

- Mimi Ibrahim

The 18th-century painting is being offered for auction at £1.5m-£2m. It was last auctioned for £30,000 in 1972, and had fetched £11 when it was auctioned in 1802.

Stubbs, who died aged 81 in 1806, is known to have finished fewer than 400 paintings. The Liverpool-born artist is best known for his paintings of animals, particularly horses.

The Spanish Pointer is believed to have been painted between 1766 and 1768 and is the earliest dog painting that he is known to have produced.

The 1760s has been considered to be a prolific decade in Stubbs's career, during which he painted many of the works for which he is best known.